When you least expect it
by asdf26
Summary: The team was brought back to the US after the dangerous mission in Mexico that almost costed their lives. Meanwhile at the hospital, recovering from his multiple injuries, Callen has a special visit.


Just another one shot to help me survive until there is another Callen and Anna scene. Enjoy!

* * *

The day had just risen, and Anna was getting ready for her daily morning run. She normally ran about 6 miles, but today she decided to add two more miles. The LA neighborhoods and streets were often quieter in the morning, which is perfect for Anna, who could also enjoy some serenity, meanwhile.

After an hour, her run was completed. Anna went to buy some groceries she needed, as well as some breakfast, before she headed home for a shower and breakfast, so that she could go to work, at a local bakery. This was her temporary "part-time" job until the day of her court attendance comes. She couldn't deny she was nervous to find out what the ATF conclusion on her current judiciary situation is. It was funny to work there, because they even let her bake some Russian sweets/desserts when they got to know she was Russian.

It was past 9am when Anna got home. She took her shower and while getting dressed she noticed her phone had its notification light one, so she picked it up to see what it was. For her surprise there were 5 unanswered calls from Hetty. What was so urgent that Hetty had to call her 5 times in a row? Anna started thinking of possible reasons and was getting very worried. This was unusual from Hetty, she normally would call only once, but now 5 times? Before she could go crazy over possible scenarios, Anna dialed the number.

"Good morning, Hetty!"

"Good morning, Mrs. Kolcheck."

"I saw your calls, but I didn't notice them in time and I was starting to think something is wrong. Is everything alright?"

"I'm afraid not, dear. You might want to seat down."

"What happened, Hetty?" Anna was now very worried, and she could hear Hetty sighing on the other hand.

"The team headed to Mexico due to a mission, some days ago, and they were hit by a rocket, meanwhile." Anna's heartbeat increased like crazy after hearing those words. "Mr. Callen was the one who got the most severe injuries, the crash got him some cracked ribs and a large pneumothorax, in addiction. They've landed here in Los Angeles last night. However, I didn't want to make you worried at that time of the night, so I thought I'd better call your early today, just like I did."

"Is he… Is Callen…" Anna was perplexed and couldn't even say the words crossing her mind right now.

"Good lord, honey, no. Mr. Callen is currently at Balboa's Naval hospital recovering. From what I've heard, he's stable and had some slight improvements already."

"Thank you, Hetty. I appreciate you told me." Hetty noticed the shock in Anna's voice.

"I thought you might want to be aware of what happened, but I apologize if I scared you, Mrs. Kolcheck. Have a good day, dear. Well, as good as possible."

"You too, Hetty. Thank you again. Goodbye."

Anna couldn't believe what she had just been told. While Hetty was debriefing her, she could almost feel the world collapse on her shoulders. Both had barely talked or seen each other lately, and for a minute Anna thought she had lost him. She couldn't quite wrap her head around that thought, it was too cruel.

She gave herself some minutes to get her thoughts in place. After almost half an hour, she headed to work, hopefully to leave it after some minutes, so that she could go see her boyfriend. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. The bakery was full of orders and clients throughout the whole day, and her boss couldn't handle the situation with one less person and Anna also felt bad for leaving her two colleagues with all that work in hands. Her shift would be over by 1pm, so she stayed, even though she couldn't stop thinking about Callen and even her colleagues noticed there was something wrong with her, she wasn't as productive as usual.

As soon as she got out, she headed straight to San Diego.

* * *

"Good afternoon, may I see G. Callen?"

"Are you family?" the nurse asked.

"Yes, girlfriend."

"Well, visits time has passed already, but I'll make an exception. Let me know your name, please."

"Anna Kolcheck." Anna figured it was all good to give her own name.

"Alright, here's your visitor's card. It's the third door, on this first right."

"Thank you very much."

Anna followed the nurse's instructions and entered the room. Once in, Anna stopped dead on her tracks, even though she already knew what she'd find. She saw him laid there, as vulnerable as ever… Anna had never seen him like this before. It made her chest ache and shocked her a little too. She recalled what Hetty had told her about his injuries earlier and she could almost feel his pain.

After a couple of minutes Anna started approaching the bed and him, as well. She stopped by the left side of the bed and stood there looking at him for a minute. Callen is the strongest person she has met and has gone through a lot of different tough situations in his life but seeing him so defenseless on an hospital bed got her to shed a tear, even though she knew he was stable. It made her realize that behind that undefeated hero mask he wears daily, there was a human being, as weak and as fragile as everyone else.

She couldn't help but put her right hand carefully over his chest to feel his heart beating. Callen's breathing pattern changed a little when she did so and became just a little bit more rapid, but he remained asleep. It was like as if he could feel her presence there. Some minutes later she looked down at his left hand, that was resting on his tummy, and stroked it as lightly as possible, while caressing his cheek with the same intensity.

A little later, Callen woke up at the feeling of a warm touch. He regained sense of where he was and, besides being a little sleepy still, he started to explore the room. He slowly turned his head to the left and saw the one responsible for that touch standing there.

"Hi, there." Anna greeted and smiled lightly at him.

"Hey…" Callen was still shocked to see her there, but very happy too, even if he couldn't really show it, due to the pain he was still feeling.

"I'm happy to know you're safe." Anna added. A moment of silence fell between the two, while Callen stared at her for a while.

"Uhm… I saw there are a couple of pills on the table that you should take for the pain. I'm going to get them." Callen simply nodded and followed Anna's entire way to the table and back. She took a glass of water with her to help him take the pills.

"Can you take them by yourself?"

"I guess so." He tried to put himself in a better position.

"Okay, there you go." Anna put the two pills on the palm of his hand and then handed him the glass of water, once he had taken the pills. Callen hissed a little, afterwards. "Are you okay?" Anna asked while taking the glass carefully out of his hand.

"Yes, I just moved a little bit more than what I'm able to, at the moment." The memories of what had happened back in Mexico crossed Callen's mind once again and he realized he had to try to stop letting his defensive self control him, and this seemed like a good moment to start. He just waited for Anna to put things in place and return to where she was standing before.

"I'm so glad you're here…" As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Callen felt very relieved to have let her know how he feels. Anna smiled at his words and caressed his cheek again. "I'm glad you're here too, Grisha, safe and sound."

He still couldn't move that much, because his left side was still hurting, but he moved his left hand to reach out to hers and waited until she held it, with a tight hold. He rubbed her hand gently, just like he used to. "I thought I'd never see you again." Callen felt the knot in his throat at the meaning of those words he had just shared.

He didn't say much but Anna could see how intense that experience had been for him. His facial expressions were still very heavy. Anna saw his eyes shining brighter and a tear ran down his face. Callen wasn't one who cried easily, especially not around people, so she knew this was tough for him. The way he said those words and their meaning, as well and the fear expressed on them, hit her right in the heart. Being there looking at him like that made her feel so bad over their lack of interaction, lately.

The thought of possibly having lost him without even saying goodbye hit her hard right now. Tears started falling down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Grisha…" She wanted anything but to hold him close. Nevertheless, at the momentary impossibility of doing that, she kept stroking his cheek gently and whipped the few tears on his face, before bending over a little to place a kiss on his lips and somehow calm him, and herself too. "But I'm here and will not go anyway."

"*sniffs* I apologize for having been so stubborn lately and not going up to you, talk to you nor support you as I should have. This whole separation we've faced seems so stupid and selfish, right now. I'm sorry…"

"Don't do this to yourself now, Callen. Don't blame yourself only. It was my fault too, I should have let you know how I felt, without making you wonder what to do. Besides, you need to focus on your recovery right now, not on our meaningless issues when compared to what could have happened to you." She kissed him again, and this time she took her time in that kiss, and so did he.

* * *

Almost an hour had passed since Anna first entered the room. No one had told her she had to leave, so far, so she figured it was okay to stay and she stood there beside him.

"Sit here next to me." Callen's low and raspy voice caught her off guard.

"What did you say?"

"Sit here next to me."

"But Grisha, I don't… I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't."

"Okay." Anna shot him a slight smile. The bed he was staying in was big and Callen didn't have to move that much for them both to fit there. Anna sat by his right side, so that she wouldn't possibly hurt him, but Callen made her lay with him. He put his right arm around her side and kissed her forehead, before Anna laid her head on his chest.

"God, I hate hospitals." Callen confessed, while caressing his girlfriend's side and Anna chuckled softly. He heard her chuckle and looked down at her, cuddled up to him or quite anyway… He missed this a lot, but just wished this was happening under different circumstances. However, Callen was truly grateful to have her there and hopefully soon things would go back to normal.

* * *

Thank you for reading! Let me know what you think.


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